The Southern Poverty Law Center claims they are still in the good graces of the FBI and that reports the FBI has severed ties are false.Heidi Beirich, Director of SPLC’s Intelligence Project told Breitbart News that she does not know why links to SPLC were taken down from the FBI site.
Beirich said, “All of the resource organizations were pulled, as you can see. The FRC claims we are behind domestic terrorism and that’s why the FBI took us down–I’m supposing that doesn’t relate to the ADL or anyone else that was up there.” Beirich provided no other confirmation her group has an ongoing relationship with the FBI.
A spokesman for the Family Research Council told Breitbart News the information about SPLC on the FBI site are historical in nature and the fact remains that the FBI has scrubbed SPLC’s website from theirs and that you can no longer access SPLC’s hate list through the FBI site.
The two mentions of SPLC that remain on the FBI site include a link to a 2007 partnership looking into cold cases from the civil rights battles of the 1960s:
“In February 2007, the FBI and the Department of Justice announced a partnership with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the National Urban League to help investigate these aging unsolved murders. At the time, Director Robert Mueller said, ‘We will do everything we can to close those cases and to close this dark chapter in our nation’s history.'”
The other refers to SPLC still having a public outreach role with the FBI.
“Public Outreach: The FBI has forged partnerships nationally and locally with many civil rights organizations to establish rapport, share information, address concerns, and cooperate in solving problems. These groups include such organizations as the NAACP, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Anti-Defamation League, the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium, the National Organization for Women, the Human Rights Campaign, and the National Disability Rights Network.”
When asked to provide confirmation that SPLC keeps an ongoing formal relationship with the FBI, Beirich said, “Our CEO works with the cold case office. He was at the press conference announcing the event–you can probably find that online. That is described on the FBI page.” She also stated, “We have frequent contact with FBI agents on a whole range of issues and we’ve trained them in the past. I’m not sure exactly the last time we talked with an FBI agent and our LE trainers are not in the office today.”
The press conference likely refers to an event seven years ago.In a statement just released, General Jerry Boykin of FRC still claims victory: “What we have been concerned about is that the FBI had provided links to the SPLC website as though it were an authentic source.”
“The SPLC’s history with the FBI is undeniable and can be found on the FBI website. The fact that there are no longer links to the SPLC website is exactly what we asked for in our correspondence with the FBI,” he explained. “The SPLC’s link to domestic terrorism was established in federal court and can also be found with just a little research. This is not about history but about using SPLC’s data which is specious and dangerous.”